"More Doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette"

1946 R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company advertisement
Image: History.com

During the COVID pandemic we were all told that unless we were science-denying conspiracy theorists we should trust doctors and scientists. OK, let us consider this. Can you trust somebody? Yes. But if you wish to place your trust intelligently,you want to only trust those whose prior history is that of both wisdom and integrity. So, does the medical community in the US have such history?

The image above is pretty much all you need to know. The advertisement above came out in 1946. In it, a man playing a doctor, who may have been an actor or even an actual medical professional is helping R. J. Rejnolds, a major tobacco company, sell its product. At the time, the data on potential hams of tobacco consumption was not as solid as it is today but it was already common knowledge that tobacco smoking negatively affects the human respiratory function and that was reason enough to suspect that the behaviour was unhealthy and not one any doctor should advise, let alone advertise. Yet an advertisement doing exactly that came out, accompanied by no discernible protest or legal action by the medical community.

So what does that tell you? Unless you assume that "that was then and this is now", that somehow the medical community now is completely different than it was some 70 years ago this should give you pause if you were inclined to just blindly trust today's medical professionals. Also, ask yourself what would happen if you were alive then and tried to speak of the medical professional's involvement in such an advertisement campaign as being unscientific and unethical? Would you have been called a quack and a science denier? Should you be afraid of being called that now when you just follow the data and common sense?

As always - do your own research, use your own brain, reach your own conclusions.

References

When Cigarette Companies Used Doctors to Push Smoking - archive
Becky Little, History.com, 13 September 2018

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (wiki)

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